What is Social Entrepreneurship?

If you’ve always been a problem solver and you’ve got a passion for providing solutions to community-based problems, social entrepreneurship might be perfect for you.

What is Entrepreneurship?

Before we delve into social entrepreneurship, we should first go into entrepreneurship as a whole. Becoming an entrepreneur involves creating a business and making risky decisions to grow it into something significant.

As simple as entrepreneurship sounds, it’s a difficult path to take and many don’t succeed. Sixty percent of new businesses fail within the first three years of being established. Growing a business requires drive, motivation, and creativity, and it also requires a great level of resilience.

Entrepreneurs play a vital role in the economy. Without the innovative ideas of aspiring and existing business owners, industries would be unable to change and adapt over time. There are four different types of entrepreneurship, including:

• Small business – opening a business, whether online or in-person
• Scalable startup – unique startup businesses that fill a gap in the market and provide a one-of-a-kind product or service
• Large company – a business that exists as a branch of another pre-existing business
• Social – a startup business that focuses on creating positive changes in society and helping customers via community-wide changes. This type of entrepreneurial adventure is not driven by profit

In this article, we’re going to focus on the fourth type of entrepreneurship – social entrepreneurship. We will cover what it is, where the idea of social entrepreneurship has stemmed from, and why it’s worth considering this field if you’re an aspiring business owner.

What is a Social Entrepreneur?

Every social entrepreneur has a level of community-wide responsibility. The choices that they make as social entrepreneurs influence the way their local communities interact and the opportunities that are provided to those within these communities.

As a social entrepreneur, you will use your knowledge and imagination to create solutions to common issues within the community. You will take risks and produce innovative ideas to make a positive impact.

Your role will involve taking social responsibility and making decisions relating to impact investments, conscious consumerism, and more. You will be at the heart of the community and you’ll make a significant difference in people’s lives. While making positive changes, you’ll also earn a living that enables you to build the life that you’ve always wanted.

The Field of Social Entrepreneurship

The world of social entrepreneurship is growing rapidly and this growth is only going to accelerate even more in the upcoming years. It’s gaining traction in multiple sectors, and is becoming a more widely known concept across different industries and organizations.

The growing popularity of social entrepreneurship stems from the fascination with entrepreneurs and how they succeed. People enjoy hearing success stories and watching others grow in both personal and professional settings.

The individuals who founded huge online corporations, like Google or Facebook, are intriguing to the general public. People want to learn more about where they started and how they grew their businesses into the corporate giants that they are today.

Social entrepreneurship goes far beyond the fascination with successful entrepreneurs and business owners. It’s a major driver of social change and provides a pathway for positive changes in society. Without it, social change may still occur but at a much slower rate.

The benefits of social entrepreneurship are clear. It promotes inclusivity among businesses and communities and immense everybody in positive community-wide change.

Consider companies that provide educational tools or charities that focus on improving the lives of vulnerable children or third-world populations. They are organizations whose main driving force is helping others.

Why Should Your Consider Social Entrepreneurship?

Starting a business provides you with the opportunity to earn a great deal of money. However, this may not be your only motive. You may also want to use your business to make positive changes.

Social entrepreneurship enables you to inspire societal changes through your business while also pursuing your passions. It’s a new form of entrepreneurship that involves creating and funding innovative solutions to address social issues that are close to your heart.

Being a social entrepreneur, you can tackle the key problems in your community that has affected you personally or impacted somebody you know. You can break a stigma or social construct that you feel doesn’t serve the community.

Generating a profit is a positive by-product of driving innovative change through your business. However, you still need to have the financial knowledge to succeed as a social entrepreneur.

For those of you who are business minded and know how to generate leads and sales, you’re likely to succeed as a social entrepreneur. You can combine your passion for social change with your expertise in finance and business to create an empire.

Your efforts won’t go unnoticed and you’ll make a huge difference in the lives of many through your products or services. No matter who your target audience is, you’ll be able to break social constructs and create positive changes in your local community and beyond.

The line between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship is blurred. While social entrepreneurs still have profit in mind, it’s not the sole driving force. The positive social changes that result from social-first companies are also attractive prospects for social entrepreneurs.

Setting Boundaries as a Social Entrepreneur

Boundaries are important for any type of entrepreneur and this includes social entrepreneurs. Failing to do so can impact not only your business but also your personal life.

When there are no clear boundaries in your start-up, the line between your professional and personal lives becomes blurry. You might find that you begin to lose motivation or drive, or build resentment towards your business.

As a social entrepreneur, your community is at the heart of everything you do. This can make it difficult to set proper boundaries, especially when you’re trying to inspire as much change as possible within society. However, being able to set healthy boundaries is the sign of a great entrepreneur and it will help you to succeed in the long run.